LBS Tidbits

EchoEcho apparently solves a problem with services like Foursquare: those services don't tell you where your friends are now.

With Echoecho, users can send a simple notification to any user on their phone's contact list. If that user has the app, they'll see a simple request asking "where are you now?" If they accept the request, the sender will see their exact location on the phone's mapping application.

If the recipient doesn't have Echoecho, they'll get a text message showing them where they can download the app.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is trying to beat Foursquare with its own branded check-in app.

The paper is rolling out a location-based services (LBS) app, Porkappolis, that will understand the city in a way national competitors like Foursquare, Gowalla or Yelp can’t, according to Cincinnati.com’s Brian Butts.

...“Bacon” is the local factor that helps differentiate the homegrown Cincinnati effort from its national competitors. In Porkappolis “Bacon” is literally a tab within the app that provides relevant geo-targeted information to the user. Information, the paper believes, that is most effectively gathered and served by a trusted local source like the Enquirer.

...Porkappolis is a white label version of the DoubleDutch LBS app. Butts, the Director of Digital & Technology for Enquirer Media, told me last week they had been working with the app developer on the project since August 2010.